EDWARD I. 1272-1307
Born 1239. Married, first, Eleanor, daughter of Ferdinand III. of Castile, by whom he had four sons and nine daughters; second, Margaret, daughter of Philip III. of France, by whom he had two sons and two daughters. Began to reign,1272. Reigned 35 years. Died 1307.
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DOMINIONS On his father's death he was acknowledged king in his absence; his regnal years are dated from four days after his father's death. In 1277 he annexed all Wales, except the district of Snowdon and Anglesea, directly to the Crown; and in 1283 he completely annexed the whole country. Wales, however, was not divided into counties, nor completely incorporated with England. Sheriffs were appointed to certain districts, but the jurisdiction of the Lords Marchers was continued in others, though the numerous royal castles erected in Wales served as a check upon their power, as well as upon the disaffection of the Welsh. In 1301 the principality of Wales was granted to
the king's eldest son. (Except on two occasions under Edward II. Wales was not represented in Parliament till Henry
VIII.' s reign .) In 1279 Edward obtained possession of Ponthieu in right of his wife Eleanor, whose mother was Jeanne de Ponthieu, and in the same year he formally renounced all claim to Normandy. In 1294 the French seized Guienne and Gascony, but in 1296 Bordeaux was recovered, and in 1303 Edward by treaty resumed possession of the provinces as they were at his accession. |
PRINCIPAL EVENTS
| 1265. | Simon de Montfort assembles the first regular parliament. |
| In the same year, Prince Edward escapes, and in a battle fought at Evesham, (4th August ) De Montfort is slain. | |
| 1274. | Edward was engaged in the eighth and last Crusade, in Palestine: he returned to England, and succeeded to the throne. |
| 1282. | Llewellyn killed (11th December) at Bualth in the valley of the Wye, his head was afterwards set upon the Tower of London. |
| 1284. | Edward effects the conquest of Wales after several years of war. |
| Queen Eleanor gave birth to a son in Carnarvon castle, Edward presents him as a Prince to the Welsh. | |
| 1286. | Alexander III. died by a fall from a horse, over a cliff, Princess Margaret had already died leaving an.infant princess known as the |
| 1290. | Maid of Norway who died on her voyage to Scotland, leaving a vacant throne, with thirteen competitors; Edward mediates. |
| 1291. | Eleanor of Castile, Edward's queen died, "Eleanor crosses" erected in every place in which her corpse rested on the mournful |
| journey between Grantham, where she died and her final resting place in Westminster Abbey. | |
| 1292. | John Baliol performs homage to him for the crown of Scotland. |
| 1295. | Baliol rebels and leagues with France |
| 1296. | Edward at Newcastle (March) with an army of 30,000 foot and 4,000 horsemen, proceeded north across the Tweed, to attack |
| Berwick, after a battle on the 27th of April, Dunbar, Roxburgh, Dumbarton, and Jedburgh surrendered; Edinburgh and Stirling a little more than two months later. | |
| 1297. | Wallace leads a small band against the English (May) he is joined by Sir William Douglas. |
| The English defeated by Sir William Wallace, near Stirling (September 11th) | |
| 1298 | Edward concludes a two year truce with Philip the Fair, and hastened to England. |
| Edward meets Parliament at Westminster (March), after a delay yields to the demands of the barons and confirms the Charter. | |
| Wallace defeated at Falkirk (22nd July) | |
| 1299. | King Edward marries Margaret, the sister of Philip of France (September) |
| 1304. | On the 9th February Comyn and other Scottish leaders submitted to Edward |
| 1305. | Wallace betrayed (Ralph Hamilton) and beheaded at Westminster |
| 1306. | War continued, Robert Bruce crowned king of Scotland at Scone (March 27th). |
| 1307. | Edward dies at Burgh-upon-Sands |
| Edward the Second of Carnarvon becomes king |
Edward I. (of the Norman line), was born at Winchester in 1239, the son of Henry III. As a young man he was employed in ruling the most turbulent parts of his father's realm, Gascony and the Marches of Wales. The contests between his father and the barons called him early into active life, with skill he crushed Simon de Montfort (battle of Evesham, 1265) and quelled all resistance to the royal authority. He then proceeded to Palestine, where he showed proof of his valour, although, owing to the death of the French king, no conquest of any importance was achieved.
During Edward's reign progress was made in the establishment of law and order, he showed a degree of severity in his administration, and consolidated the principles which had been brought in by Henry the Second, trial by jury had become the usual course of law. The mass of yearbooks, or notes of cases tried before the courts of this reign, along with our ancient custom, helped develope our law.
The reign of Edward is chiefly associated with his warlike deeds, he commenced a war with Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, who's own brother, David sided with the English, Llewellyn was obliged to submit to harsh terms, at Rhuddlan Castle (November 1277,) which ended in the annexation of that principality to the English crown in 1283. Edward was also involved in serious difficulties abroad and in his dealings also with the Scots, John Baliol, having been induced to do homage for his crown to Edward, was forced by the indignation of the Scottish people into war with England.The French, irritated by a fierce fight between English and Norman shipmen, in which the Norman's were worsted, had joined alliance with the Scots and were invading Gascony; revolt had broken out in Wales.
Edward with money difficulties introduced a radical revolution into the admission of the Great Council ("The Model Parliament"of 1295) of representatives, to it he gathered the earls and greater barons, the archbishops, bishops, and mitred abbots, two knights from each shire, two citizens and burgesses from each city and borough. Edward also caused the priors of the cathedrals, the archdeacons, and representatives of the clergy of each cathedral and each diocese to be summoned. Thus the " three estates" of the realm, clergy, nobility, and commons, all figured in it fully represented. It was only because the churchmen preferred to remain a class apart, and to make their own grants of money in their own assembly ("convocation"), that their representatives have since had no place in the Lower House. This practice did not at once become the rule, but, the principle that the assent of the boroughs (burghers) was needed both to statutes and to grants of money was gradually becoming more settled.
Edward's troubles did not end, however, with the holding of the Model Parliament, he had received assent for the money, but it took time to collect, and Edward, was in a desperate hurry for supplies.
Edward entered Scotland in 1296, devastated it with fire and sword, and placed the administration of the country in the hands of officers of his own. In the summer of 1297 a new rising took place under the celebrated William Wallace, Edward was returned to Scotland with an army of 100,000 men. Wallace was at length betrayed into his hands and executed as a traitor.
Two of Edward's barons refused to go to the war with France, the Constable Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, and the Marshal Bohun, Earl of Hereford, they were bound, they admitted, to accompany him; but they understood their obligation to "accompany" in the narrowest sense: declared they would not go to Gascony while he went to Flanders. " By God, Sir Earl," said Edward to the Constable, "thou shalt go or hang". " By God, Sir King," was the cool reply, " I will neither go nor hang." The two earls went home and fifteen hundred knights with them, and Edward, now at his wits end for money and men, seized the wool from the merchants in the ports, ordered the courtiers to find him provisions, and soon after sailed for Flanders.
No sooner was he out of the kingdom than the two earls appeared in London, and forbade the King's Council to collect any of the moneys irregularly levied on wool. A Parliament was hastily summoned, and the earls demanded that the Great Charter should be solemnly, confirmed with the addition of a clause, that the king was not to take "such manner of aids or prises save by the common assent of the realm"; that the " evil tax " (the maltote) on wool was to be given up; and that for the future the king and his heirs would not take anything without the common consent and goodwill of the commonalty of the realm, save only the ancient custom on wool, skin, and leather already granted. The Council of Regency gave their promise to this, and the king afterwards confirmed their promise.
Pope Boniface VIII, required Edward and Philip IV, King of France, to make peace, and was determined to cut off the supplies of money which they drew from the clergy in their realms. He therefore issued a bull known as "Clerics Laicos", forbidding all payments "from the clergy to the laity" without his sanction. As a matter of fact both kings treated the bull as a vexatious piece of papal interference. Edward I. let it be understood that if the clergy refused to pay the grant they had promised, he would treat them as outlaws.
After throwing away immense sums of money, Edward concluded a truce with Philip the Fair of France, and returned to England humbled and disgraced, and reluctantly confirmed the Charters (1298).
Edward's efforts to reduce Scotland to obedience were unavailing, and with the flight of Robert Bruce, earl of Crick, to Scotland, the banner of Scottish independence was again unfurled. Edward assembled another army and marched against Bruce, but only lived
to reach Burgh-on-Sands, a village near Carlisle, where he died 7th July,
1307.
